On Friday, I asked, “How long have you been a baseball fan?” Even got a snazzy little poll going. The response has been excellent (for which I give a hearty thanks!), and I’ve learned a few things from it:

As of this writing, 56% of y’all have been fans for a quarter century or more. You’re old, like me.
A full 92% have been fans for 11 years or more. (I probably should have broken down the groups a little better; maybe we’ll run another poll someday after folks have had a chance to forget about this one.)
I invited people …read more

   Photo by ▌ÇP▐   some rights reserved
So I take the wife out shopping today. She shops, I sit in the car and read Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2008, everyone’s happy.
On page 145 of the Annual, I come across an amusing anecdote about a gentleman named Clay Dalrymple:
One July day in Baltimore in 1969, the umpires were faced with a problem. Clay Dalrymple was to catch for Baltimore that evening, but he emerged from the dugout with both a catcher’s mitt (on his hand) and a fielder’s glove (in his back pocket).
“I asked him about it,” reported home plate umpire John Rice. “And …read more

   Photo by TomGazpacho   some rights reserved
I’ve been thinking about ways to bring you stuff that just isn’t available anywhere else. News and analysis is great, and I’ll certainly continue to do my share of that, but one thing I thought might be fun is to use Baseball-Reference’s “random” function and highlight whoever happens to appear when I give it a spin. We’ll do this every Wednesday because, well, in keeping with the spirit of things, I actually chose the day at random.
Anyway, our first player is Harry Lord, a left-handed hitting third baseman who played for the Boston Americans/Red Sox, Chicago …read more

Baseball-Reference’s Play Index tool now provides the option to search only for current free agents. This is handy for determining things like how totally hosed you are if you’re trying to fill a void at third base via free agency and can’t afford Alex Rodriguez.
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Sometimes I get lucky and write something that makes me look smart 9 years later. Back in October 1998, after Paul Konerko’s first extended trial in the big leagues and just before the Cincinnati Reds traded him to the Chicago White Sox for outfielder Mike Cameron, I’d defended Konerko as a prospect. Here’s my favorite part:
Realistically, assuming Konerko is given the opportunity to play every day, and assuming he is able to make the adjustments all young players must make when they step up to a higher level (and there’s no reason based on his past history to believe he …read more

Okay, I just found this at Baseball-Reference. As if Sean and friends weren’t already doing enough…

I love asking stupid questions. For example, who is the best player ever selected with the 100th pick in the amateur draft? Thanks to Baseball-Reference, we know that it’s Ron Gant. For grins, here are the top five players drafted in that slot:

Ron Gant
Shane Mack
Josh Bard
George Vuckovich
Rich Wortham

Useless information? Perhaps. But still kind of interesting…